MEETING OF THE ESC ATHLETES COMMITTEE TOOK PLACE IN MUNICH

02 December 2015 — Views: 57

The first ever meeting of the ESC Athletes Committee took place in Munich. The five out of six members of the Committee elected by participants of the 2013-2014 European Championships took part in the meeting.

The 1988 Olympic Champion, three times World Champion Jasna Šekarić from Serbia, the World and the European Games Champion Petra Zublasing from Italy, the World Champion Elena Allen from Great Britain, the winner of the Olympic bronze medal, World Champion Vasily Mosin from Russia, the European and the European Games Champion Valérian Sauveplane from France were joined by the 2008 Olympic Champion, Chairman of the ISSF Athletes Committee Abhinav Bindra from India who informed the European colleagues about the main challenges that the shooting Olympic program is facing vis-a-vis the requirements of the IOC "Agenda 2020". They were also informed about the discussions that are taking place within the ISSF in order to modify certain competition formats and the 4-year Championships cycle.

The unanimous opinion of the ESC Athletes Committee members was that such important issues can't be resolved without consultations with the athletes. Especially when the potential decisions can affect the future of a shooting discipline or event and the technical rules. It was also pointed out that participants of the ISSF supervised competitions should be treated as professionals and that the formats of Qualification should conform more with the format of the Finals. "Imagine you are winning a marathon race, and then have to wait for the rest of the runners to cross the finish line in order to start the sprint", - gave an example of the current situation Petra Zublasing.

The ESC Vice-President Pekka Kuusisto, Presidium members Biserka Vrbek, Willi Grill and Petros Kyritsis as well as the Secretary General Alexander Ratner, the Chairwoman of the Technical Committee Ghislaine Briez and the Chairman of the Press and Promotion Committee Risto Aarrekivi also attended the meeting. They underlined the importance that the ESC President Vladimir Lisin and the ESC Presidium, in general, are attributing to the Athletes Committee and informed about certain ESC initiatives aimed to modify the shooting sport.

The members of the ESC Athletes Committee elected Vasily Mosin, the current World Champion in Double Trap, their Chairman and formulated several recommendations that he had to present at the meeting of the ISSF Athletes Committee where he was invited by Abhinav Bindra.